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Roy Cummings, The Tampa Tribune, published 24 December 2007
This was not what you wanted to see from the Bucs two Sundays before the playoffs begin. There were passes, some thrown directly into the hands of their intended targets, that fell to the ground; there were scoring chances, including one that materialized at their opponent's 5-yard line, that weren't fully realized; there were starters, some in civilian clothes, watching from the sideline at the end, with the game's outcome still in doubt.
Maybe it was the venue. Something odd always seems to happen to the Bucs when they roll into what is now Monster Park. The trend continued Sunday. Who was to blame for what proved to be a 21-19 loss to the lowly 49ers, the 11th such loss in 12 tries for the Bucs here? Blame everybody if you want. After all, just about everybody played for the Bucs, who treated their next-to-last game of the regular season as if it were the next-to-last game of the preseason.
Jeff Garcia was pulled before halftime. Starting tailback Earnest Graham left the game shortly thereafter. So did wideout Joey Galloway. It was all part of the game plan. A berth in the playoffs secured, Jon Gruden decided last week to approach this one a little differently. Winning, it seems, was not necessarily the top priority. Staying healthy for the playoffs was. "It's very hard to disagree with everybody that says you should win your last two games if you can," he said. "We tried to win today. But I want to go into the playoffs with a healthy team."
As hard as he tried, Gruden couldn't quite ensure that Sunday. Just as it did for Cadillac Williams, Luke Petitgout and Mark Jones, a motorized cart carried receiver Maurice Stovall from the field Sunday. It probably didn't have to be that way. Stovall suffered an arm injury, believed to be a break. Unfortunately for the Bucs, he wasn't the only casualty. Greg White, who waived off the cart, suffered a bruised quad.
As for the rest of the team, it made it out relatively unscathed. The only other injuries of note were suffered by a few veteran leaders, a couple of whom walked away from the game with their pride bruised. When asked about the approach Gruden took, cornerback Ronde Barber said, "You don't want to hear my opinion on that right now. I'm a captain on this team. I like to win."
Fellow captain Derrick Brooks echoed Barber's sentiment on winning but added that no one would be talking about the approach the Bucs took to the game had they won.
"Coach had a game plan going in; if we win, it's a great plan. But now it's something everybody questions," he said. "But we don't question it here in this locker room. It's hard to swallow because we lost, but I have to respect what Coach decides. Besides, our thing all year has been guys coming in and stepping up for other players."
That they didn't step up in quite the same way Sunday cost the Bucs. Coupled with Seattle's victory over the Ravens, the loss means the Bucs no longer can gain the third seed in the NFC playoffs. They are assured, though, of being seeded fourth, which means they will play their first playoff game at home against the Giants, the top wild-card finisher.
What kind of momentum the Bucs will have for that game remains to be seen. Gruden said his plan for their regular-season finale next week against Carolina will be similar to the one he took against the 49ers.
That means starters such as Garcia, Graham and Galloway will get little, if any, playing time. That doesn't seem to bother Garcia, who fully backed Gruden's call to rest some of his starters. "That may be our chance to have something of a bye next weekend," he said. "Whatever that first playoff game at home is going to be for us is where our focus is."
It sure looked like the Bucs' focus was elsewhere on Sunday. Their receivers dropped several catchable balls and the offensive line made Gruden's decision to pull Garcia appear very sound. The lineup changes didn't do much to alter the outcome, though. The reserves made some plays here and there but mistakes abounded during the second half. The costliest ones were committed by Garcia's understudy, Luke McCown.
On a third-and-6 play from his own 10, he ran out of the pocket only to fumble the ball away. Four plays later Vernon Davis hauled in a Shaun Hill pass that erased a Bucs lead and gave the 49ers a 14-13 edge. Not long thereafter McCown threw an interception. Nate Clements ran it back 62 yards to the Bucs' 23. On the very next play, 49ers back Frank Gore ran a screen pass in from 23 yards out to pad the 49ers' lead.
The Bucs did manage to tighten the game, driving for a late touchdown. But Michael Clayton came down with one foot out of bounds on the pass McCown made for the two-point conversion. The loss left the Bucs winless in two of their last three games, which is not necessarily the kind of record a team wants to take into the playoffs. Few in the Bucs locker room seem truly concerned about the fallout, though. "I'm not concerned about it," Graham said when asked about a lack of momentum heading into the playoffs. "If we practice hard we'll be all right. We'll be ready."
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